Wall-board machine



ly Y Oct" 25 1927', A. l.. FREDERlcKsoN ET AL 646645 WALL BOARD MACHINE Filed June 50, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet Patented Oct. 25, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

AXEL L. FREDERICKSON, F SAN FRANCISCO, AND ELMER C, PITCHER, 0F HAYWARD,

i CALIFORNIA.

,WALL-BOARD MACHINE.

Application led June 30, 1924. Serial N0. 723,342.

This invention relates to machines for making wall board wherein the board is composed of an intermediate layer of wooden slats glued between two layers of heavy paper, and has to do partlcularly with a means of automatically feeding the wooden slats to the paper layers.

The principal objects of our invention are to provide a means by which the slats are fed more rapidly through the use of multiple hoppers and for staggering slats of diiferent lengths to provide for the use of short stock, also to provide againstjamming ofl the slats if of uneven thickness in being delivered to the machine conveyor, also of means for con trolling the delivery so as to provide for slats of different widths, also means for justifying the slats endwise and of properly crowding them together before being -glued between the layers of paper.

The objects outlined above as well as improved details of construction relating thereto are realized in the apparatus shown in the drawings hereto and in which- Figure 1 illustrates the complete machine as seen in side elevation with somel of the frame and bearings omitted to reveal the cooperation of the important elements and showing our slat feeding mechanism atl the extreme right. 4

Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the slat feeding mechanism with slats in the receiving hoppers being fed to the special sand paper conveyor belt preferably used in our machine.

Figure 3 is a perspective sketch showing the appearance of the slats with staggered joints as fed from the hoppers of the feeding mechanism.

Since our invention relates particularly to the feeding end of the machine, no unnecessary details in drawings or description will be given the machine as a whole, but only so much as is necessary to illustrate the improvements constituting the invention.

In Figure 1 the machine consists of a suitable supporting frame 1 having proper braces and connections to position the various machine elements and. also a table 2 or guides along theupper surface of which the wall board 3 is formed. v 6

The wall board consists of a row of wooden slats 4 glued between an upper layer 5 of paper and a lower layer' 6.

The paper isunrolled from supply rolls.7

and 8 and glued to the slats by the means indicated in the drawing as the slats are pushed along the table in the direction shown by the arrow.

The slats are of any desired length, width or thickness as determined by the wall board intended to be produced and are loaded by an attendant into the double hoppers 9-10 from which they `are fed by reciprocating fingers 11 from underneath the stacks of slats and along the table to a traveling belt conveyor 12.

The belt conveyor 12 is preferably of sand paper or the like, and may be of one piece as indicated in Figure 2 or may consist of several bands instead of one piece. The gritty side of the belt is uppermost and the belt travels over head and tail pulleys or rolls shown respectively at 13 and 14.

Resting Aupon the slats while they are traveling on the sandpaper conveyor is an idler roll 15 which serves as a check to prevent the slats from slipping out ofposition, and just, forward of the conveyor the slats pass between a pair of geared rollers 16 and still further along anotherpair of geared rollers 17 over which the paper layers are applied to the upper and under surface of the slats.

Between both pairs of geared rollers glue or cement is applied to the slats, from a suitable feeding chute 18, and runs over the slats, through the cracks and drains into a receptacle 19 from which. the Asurplus is pumped back to a supply source by means not shown.

A glue applying roll 20 revolves in the receptacle 19 and applies glue to the surface' of the lower layer of paper which comes against the slats. E

Before passing under the check roll 15 the slats are endwise aligned by a fixed guide strip or idler roller 54 at one or both sides of the conveyor.

The head pulley 13 isdrivenI by power preferably through a chain 21 from a small sprocket 22. on a countershaft 23 to a sprocket 24 on the pulley, and the geared rollers 16 and 17 are in turn driven by chains and sprockets indicated at 25-26-27-28.

The reciprocating slat feeder 11 is also driven from shaft 23 by a chain 29 from a sprocket 30 and both sprockets 22 and 30 are mounted together on a friction clutch 31 so that both may be engaged or disengaged simultaneously from the shaft by the clutch lever 32, so that the machine elements all stop when the clutch is thrown out.

The slat feeder has an independent control clutch 33 so that the speed of feeding the slats to the belt may be adjusted by the operator.

The clutch 33 is on a shaft 34 and is arranged to transmit power from Ithe chain 29 received through a sprocket 35 to the feeder driving disk 36 and the clutch 1s preferably of a type which will permit of a certain amount of` slipping so that the speed of rotation of the disk 36 may be varied somewhat and kept at the desired speed by locking the clutch handle 37 at any point along a suitable quadrant 38 secured to the frame of the machine.

Of course, it is evident that insteadof a friction clutch at this point any other speed changing device may be substituted, the principle to be observed being simply that its maximum speed should feed the slats a trifle faster than necessary so that the proper relation of the slats on the conveyor may be had by modifying the speed to suit the exact widths of the slats being used.

A feeder driving disk 36 is on both ends of the shaft 34 and each connect by a crank or link 39 to a 'pivoted arm 40 linked at 41 to the reciprocating finger assembly 11 s o that upon revolving the disk the fingers will at each forward stroke push under the slat stacks engaging and ejecting the lowest slats only to the conveyor.

Figure 2 shows the hopper arrangement more clearly and it is seen to consist of rows of uprights 42, 43 and 44 cross bracedY at 45 and 46 and supported by a plate 47 at each end, the near plate being broken away to show that the uprights 42 and 43 terminate short of the table 2 so as to provide a passage for the ejection of the lower slats by the fingers 11.

The lingers 11 are a trifle thinner than the thickness of the slats and are "secured together for unitary movement by a bar 48 to which the links 41 are connected, and are kept in place against longitudinal guide strlps 49 by upper transverse guiding members 50.

The slats are held loosely between the uprights in two vertical stacks and are free to fall for ejection at the bottom.

In ejecting the two slats it will be seen that the rear slat if. a trifle thicker than the forward slate would be liable to'strike the lower edge of the next slat above in the forward stack and thus jam the machine. To

prevent this possibility the rear slat is permitted to fall a trie lower than the for'- ward slat before ejection so that the rear slat will push forward against the lirst slat but slightly below the under surface of the slat immediately above.

This is accomplished by cutting but the table surface slightly as indicated at 51.

One 'of the principal advantages of the double stack of slats is to provide for the feeding of dierent length slats with staggered joints as showny in Figure 3 and which results in a great economy in permitting the use of short length material.

When such different lengths of slats are to be used they are of course first cut to predetermined lengths to give the total desired width of Wall board when laid en-d to end and they are dropped into the hoppers separated by a thin metal separating strip 52 so their ends will not catch one another as they descend for ejection.

These metal strips 52 are preferably sus-v pended from the cross braces 45 by means of a projection 53 which hangs over the upper edge of one of the transverse braces 45 thus permitting the adjustment of the separators to any position to suit any change of length of the slats which may be decided upon, or their instant removal in case it is desired to feed full length slats.

It will be evident without illustration that any number of separators may be used and in any desired arrangement, also that while we have shown but two hoppers to permit of carrying out the staggered joint arrangement, three or even four hoppers may be used and that some may be arranged with separators to feed short lengths while the others are feeding full length stock, and any such modifications as may fall within the spirit of our invention is intended to be covered in our appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a wall board machine ofthe character described, means for feedin a layer of slats in the formation of the oard, said means including a hopper adapted to receive a stack of slats and being provided with a separator for separating groups of slats endwise within the hopper, said separator being adjustable along the hopper to meet any required position for endwlse separation of the slats.

2. In a wall board ymachine of the character described, means for feedin a layer of slats in the formation of the ard, said means including two hoppers arranged to loosely hold slats in adjacent stacks with the lowermost slats in each stack at a slightly different elevation, and an ejector adapted to engage the lowest slat and move it against the slightly elevated lowest slat of the adjacent stack for ejection therewith.

3. In a wall board machine, two hoppers Y associated with each hopper to permit the accomodation therein of slats of respectively Varying lengths with their adjacent ends in confronting relation, and means for ej ecting the slats from the respective hoppers so that the joints between the slats feeding from one hopper wi-ll be staggered with respect to the joints between the slats feeding from the other hopper.

4. In a wall board machine two hoppers arranged side by side, and slidably mounted means in each hopper, each hopper arranged to accommodate a plurality of slats of respectively dierent lengths with their ends in confronting relation separated by said sliding means, and mechanism for ejecting the slats from said hoppers so as to Aeffect a feeding of the slats of one hopper progressively with the feeding of the slats from the other hopper.

5. In a wall board machine, two hoppers arranged side by side', andmeans adjustable in the length of each hopper for subdividing the hopper into parts of respectively varying lengths so that each hopper is made to accomodate slats of correspondingly respective lengths side by side with their ends in confronting relation, and means for ejecting the slats from said hoppers.

' AXEL L. FREDERICKSON.

ELMER C. PITCHER. 

